Boston and back in our R1S

[lefkonj]

We are in central NJ and headed up to Boston to do some college tours. This about 260 miles each way, not counting the NY area traffic nor the local driving required. Just wanted to provide a quick review of our journey and what our experience was like. Clean R1S to start our NorthEast journey.

Cold start to our journey on Sunday but left with 100% charge and 321 miles of predicted range. The built in navigation was ok at first but then I realized it had us stopping at a 6kw charger somewhere in Mass, sorry but no thank you. I did a filter to get it to the 'Over 100kw' chargers but it refused to provide that. Quickly jumped on the EA app to get the exact address so we could hit a 350KW charger about 2/3 of the way through our journey. This is where it gets interesting.

1. Awesome spot is open for the 350KW unit.
2. Too bad the unit is completely dead, done not working.
3. No problem the stall next to it has a 350KW unit with 2 plugs. Someone on the other side was using that for their Mach-E.
4. Crap the cable is too short and won't reach the port
5. Mach-E finishes about 5 minutes later, I plug in and bam, here we go. Everything worked as it should

Leave the pleasant but poorly designed from a layout perspective Walmart EA station and head to Boston. Arrived with about 40% charge. So happy our hotel has a charger in it, so we can be at 80% to start our day. Well that was the plan too bad the charger in the garage refused to work, period. Whatever let's get some food in us after a long drive.

Atlantic Fish Company was amazing, that was one of the best Lobster Rolls I ever had.

The next morning I was up early and was committed to figure out the hotel charger. Spent 30 minutes trying everything but it refused to connect to the Rivian and give it any juice. At least there was an EA with 350kws about 10 minutes away. Hit that unit, which was in a nice garage that provided the first 3 hours of parking for free. Connected and got all the power I needed.

Off to see some colleges.....

After driving around the area for a day figured I had plenty of power to hit the Manchester CT EA station for juice before the final journey home so didn't try any other charging in the Boston area. I can say that lots of places had chargers, both free and $$$ but whether or not they work seemed like a gamble. We hit Ramsay's Kitchen for dinner (not worth it at all).

Our journey home was uneventful and EA stations we hit were for the most part working well. The R1S performed perfectly for this journey and that included the glorious storm we drove through today that dumped snow all over the place. Driver+ was really good and worked on the majority of roads but I don't typically us cruise in the snowy weather.
Funny thing happened when we got home. I plugged it in to my juice box like I always do and it refused to charge. Tried the charger in my I4 and it worked so Rivian specific. Tech support had me reboot the vehicle by holding the left steering wheel button and the hazard button. Car completely reboots and it worked.

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[R1Sky Business]

We are in central NJ and headed up to Boston to do some college tours. This about 260 miles each way, not counting the NY area traffic nor the local driving required. Just wanted to provide a quick review of our journey and what our experience was like. Clean R1S to start our NorthEast journey.

Cold start to our journey on Sunday but left with 100% charge and 321 miles of predicted range. The built in navigation was ok at first but then I realized it had us stopping at a 6kw charger somewhere in Mass, sorry but no thank you. I did a filter to get it to the 'Over 100kw' chargers but it refused to provide that. Quickly jumped on the EA app to get the exact address so we could hit a 350KW charger about 2/3 of the way through our journey. This is where it gets interesting.

1. Awesome spot is open for the 350KW unit.
2. Too bad the unit is completely dead, done not working.
3. No problem the stall next to it has a 350KW unit with 2 plugs. Someone on the other side was using that for their Mach-E.
4. Crap the cable is too short and won't reach the port
5. Mach-E finishes about 5 minutes later, I plug in and bam, here we go. Everything worked as it should

Leave the pleasant but poorly designed from a layout perspective Walmart EA station and head to Boston. Arrived with about 40% charge. So happy our hotel has a charger in it, so we can be at 80% to start our day. Well that was the plan too bad the charger in the garage refused to work, period. Whatever let's get some food in us after a long drive.

Atlantic Fish Company was amazing, that was one of the best Lobster Rolls I ever had.

The next morning I was up early and was committed to figure out the hotel charger. Spent 30 minutes trying everything but it refused to connect to the Rivian and give it any juice. At least there was an EA with 350kws about 10 minutes away. Hit that unit, which was in a nice garage that provided the first 3 hours of parking for free. Connected and got all the power I needed.

Off to see some colleges.....

After driving around the area for a day figured I had plenty of power to hit the Manchester CT EA station for juice before the final journey home so didn't try any other charging in the Boston area. I can say that lots of places had chargers, both free and $$$ but whether or not they work seemed like a gamble. We hit Ramsay's Kitchen for dinner (not worth it at all).

Our journey home was uneventful and EA stations we hit were for the most part working well. The R1S performed perfectly for this journey and that included the glorious storm we drove through today that dumped snow all over the place. Driver+ was really good and worked on the majority of roads but I don't typically us cruise in the snowy weather.
Funny thing happened when we got home. I plugged it in to my juice box like I always do and it refused to charge. Tried the charger in my I4 and it worked so Rivian specific. Tech support had me reboot the vehicle by holding the left steering wheel button and the hazard button. Car completely reboots and it worked.

Great looking sandwich

 

[lefkonj]

Great looking sandwich

I would recommend that place of Ramsay's anyway. Was great

 

[BrayBay]

That's a beautiful shot of the R1S by the way. Are you a photographer?

 

[taylor710ce]

1. Your pictured meal has lemon protector?
2. Where in Boston allows for the first 3 hrs of free parking?!

 

[Donald Stanfield]

That does look like a really good lobster roll.

 

[lefkonj]

That's a beautiful shot of the R1S by the way. Are you a photographer?

The guys who ceramic coated the car provided me with their photos, done by their team,. Looks amazing.

1. Your pictured meal has lemon protector?
2. Where in Boston allows for the first 3 hrs of free parking?!

The lemon condom is always an interesting touch.
The EA charger at 449 Canal Street, Somerville, Massachusetts 02145 allowed for 3 hours of parking for free. Great little area to go eat but on a cold day the garage was perfect. 350KWs as well

 

[LL75]

Is it a crap shoot with EA? Anyway to tell that the unit is working before arrives?

 

[kewlasu]

The lemon condom is always an interesting touch.

 

[lefkonj]

Is it a crap shoot with EA? Anyway to tell that the unit is working before arrives?

The app does say whether or not the charger is available but to be honest the market of which charger that represents when you arrive is terrible. I have seen chargers light up green but they don't actually work. They should be red.

Overall my EA experience has been fine, of the 6 EA chargers I have hit would say 90% worked flawlessly.

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